spectr17
04-19-2006, 09:13 PM
TROUT OPENER PACKAGE II: News from the region -- Jim Matthews-ONS 12april06
REVIVING KIRMAN LAKE: Jim Reid, owner of Ken's Sporting Goods in Bridgeport, remembers a special week in the 1980s when he weighed in two huge brook trout when he was still a young man just working at the store he'd later buy. The near-twin brookies weighed 6 3/4-pounds each and they were caught in Kirman Lake, located in the backcountry above the West Walker River.
"My biggest brookie from Kirman was a fish a little better than five pounds, and I may have caught and released a bigger fish or two," said Reid. "I love that place."
A four- or five-pound brook trout is legendary, but Kirman Lake routinely produced fish that size for years. The DFG would stock the rich, spring-fed water with subcatchable brookies each fall. In just one year, those trout would be12-inch fish. But amazingly, they would weigh nearly two pounds and be as fat as a football. The lake became famous.
"I've climbed the hill above the lake and it looked like a bowl of Cheerios there were so many float tubes on the water," said Reid. "I've been there when there were 60 tubes on the lake."
The fishery went in the tank. Some people wanted to blame fishing pressure. Some wanted to blame the cutthroats the DFG decided to add to the stocking regime. But then anglers found out Kirman wasn't planted with brookies for three years in a row. Since very little natural spawning can take place, the fishery was dependent on the DFG plants. Hell was raised and brook trout were planted again last fall. It will take another couple of years of plants and another couple of seasons of fish growth before the four-pounders return, but Kirman is on the road to recovery.
REVIVING KIRMAN LAKE: Jim Reid, owner of Ken's Sporting Goods in Bridgeport, remembers a special week in the 1980s when he weighed in two huge brook trout when he was still a young man just working at the store he'd later buy. The near-twin brookies weighed 6 3/4-pounds each and they were caught in Kirman Lake, located in the backcountry above the West Walker River.
"My biggest brookie from Kirman was a fish a little better than five pounds, and I may have caught and released a bigger fish or two," said Reid. "I love that place."
A four- or five-pound brook trout is legendary, but Kirman Lake routinely produced fish that size for years. The DFG would stock the rich, spring-fed water with subcatchable brookies each fall. In just one year, those trout would be12-inch fish. But amazingly, they would weigh nearly two pounds and be as fat as a football. The lake became famous.
"I've climbed the hill above the lake and it looked like a bowl of Cheerios there were so many float tubes on the water," said Reid. "I've been there when there were 60 tubes on the lake."
The fishery went in the tank. Some people wanted to blame fishing pressure. Some wanted to blame the cutthroats the DFG decided to add to the stocking regime. But then anglers found out Kirman wasn't planted with brookies for three years in a row. Since very little natural spawning can take place, the fishery was dependent on the DFG plants. Hell was raised and brook trout were planted again last fall. It will take another couple of years of plants and another couple of seasons of fish growth before the four-pounders return, but Kirman is on the road to recovery.